On a Dark Desert Highway...

Kathy and I arrived in Tucumcari New Mexico with time to check into our hotel and have dinner before driving over to the famous Blue Swallow Motel to take some sunset images. We spotted their iconic neon sign shining brightly in the dark from quite a way off. The sight immediately reminded me of the opening lyrics of the Eagles song "Hotel California". We had visited Tucumcari a couple of years earlier but didn't stay in town so we only saw the Blue Swallow at mid-day. Tucumcari is a cool little town on Route 66 and very worth visiting.

Flagstaff Arizona to Kingman Arizona

I only drove 147 miles across Arizona today but most of it was on old Route 66. We stopped in the historic towns of Williams (bypassed by Interstate 40 in 1984) and Seligman (bypassed in 1978). Being bypassed often resulted in economic hardship. Williams is known as "The Gateway to the Grand Canyon". The historic downtown area covers about six blocks. We enjoyed touring the town, shopping and taking photos. Once an important stop for railroad traffic, Williams seems to be thriving primarily on tourism.

In 1987 the residents of Seligman convinced the state of Arizona to designate Route 66 as a historic highway and to add "City of Seligman" signs on Interstate 40 to draw people to the town and old Route 66 as well. In 2006, Pixar's movie "Cars" based its sleepy town "Radiator Springs" on Seligman. The result of these actions has been economic success for what might have been called a ghost town in years past. We had lunch at the Snow Cap Drive-In built in 1954. While the food was good, the Drive-In itself has so much history about the owners and visitors old and new on the walls, it was really tough to stop reading everything and order our food. The rest of the town was also very compelling.

Tomorrow with over 6,500 miles and 18 states behind us, We will cross back into California, I will drive the final 300+ miles home and this extraordinary road trip will conclude. We've seen a lot of beautiful country and met some interesting people. I have only posted a handful of photos from the thousands I took. I'll post more and better versions in time. I'm glad I decided to take a chance on only using my iPad Pro and the Affinity Photo software to process my photos. It's not a direct replacement for my normal workflow but it has allowed me to process and post photos relatively quickly while on the road. Many were edited in Amtrak trains moving at upwards of 70 mph or in the hotels we stayed in after many hours driving. WiFi has often been spotty to non-existent so I just used my cell service if that was available. I'll apologize now for the misspelled words and poor grammar in the posts from the last couple of weeks. My time to edit and write has been very limited and frankly, I've been tired from all the traveling. It's a good tired though. I'll go back and make some needed corrections as soon as I can.

Some of you reading this may know that my Mom passed away a few months ago. I hadn't taken a real vacation in several years as I had my hands full being a primary caregiver for her. This has been a cathartic experience and while I still think about her everyday, this trip has helped move me along the path of healing.

While I greatly appreciate and welcome the new readers/viewers of this blog, I'd like to acknowledge the long time readers who have come back after my not posting for several years. Yesterday's post had about 1,100 unique views and the number of visitors has been steadily increasing in the past couple of weeks. For those of you who have kindly taken the time to reach out, I have received your messages and I will respond to everyone as soon as I can.

Thanks for joining me (virtually) on this journey. California and the final post of this Route 66 trip tomorrow!

Greg (Big Pixel Pusher)

Springfield Missouri to Elk City Oklahoma

I drove 441 miles from Springfield Missouri to Elk City Oklahoma today. We did end up cruising for quite a while down Route 66 and saw some cool stuff but didn't stop since it rained nearly all day. We did pass by the famous blue whale east of Catoosa Oklahoma and since the rain had momentarily stopped we turned the car around to check it out. Tomorrow we are heading for Amarillo Texas and possibly Albuquerque New Mexico. Hope we leave the rain behind.

Indianapolis Indiana to Springfield Missouri

I drove 454 miles from Indianapolis Indiana to Springfield Missouri today. Once we left the highway and joined up with Route 66 we found navigating difficult. Surprisingly, modern maps don't always show the route of historic Route 66 clearly. The route is on the map but it is often marked with another name or number. We did stop in a cool Route 66 museum in Litchfield Indiana, but other than stopping to eat, we stuck to the major highway and bypassed Route 66. I can't manually navigate and drive at the same time. My wife gets agitated if she has to navigate so I think the attempt to drive along Route 66 ends here. The goal of this vacation is to relax and explore. I don't want my wife to get stressed out on what is her vacation too so I think we will stick to the major highways and I can better plan the route for a solo trip I'll take at a later date. 

We may still be able to see a few things on Route 66 using a turn-by-turn navigaton app I purchased today. Who knows. Hope so.